30 COLLECTING NESTS AND EGGS. 



eggs of our birds alone and undisturbed. They have too many ene- 

 mies to contend with, without adding the average egg collector to the 

 number. The mere accumulation of specimens is the least important 

 object of the true oologist. His principal aim should be to make care- 

 ful observations on the habits, call notes, song, the character of the 

 food, mode and length of incubation, and the actions of the species 

 generally, from the beginning of the mating season to the time the 

 young are able to leave the nest. This period comprises the most in- 

 teresting and instructive part of the life-history of our birds." Very 

 heartily do I indorse every word of this, and to the concluding sen- 

 tence I would add : and there can be no better way to avoid increasing 

 our knowledge of a bird's domestic life than to rob it of its eggs, and 

 destroy its home and our own opportunities at the same time. Studied 

 from a local standpoint, I confess I can see only two points of interest 

 in a bird's egg — one is what the egg is in, the other is what is in the 

 egg. 



Nevertheless, I can understand the pleasure attending the legiti- 

 mate formation of what Captain Bendire calls " a small, thoroughly 

 identified, well-prepared, and neatly cared for collection," which, as 

 the same author adds, " is worth far more scientifically and in every 

 other way than a more extensive one gained by exchange or purchase." 



An egg-collector's outfit consists of several drills, an embryo-hook, 

 a blowpipe, forceps, and scissors. A fresh egg should be blown 

 through a hole slightly larger than the tip of the blowpipe. Drill 

 the hole in the side of the egg, and, after inserting the blowpipe about 

 one sixteenth of an inch, blow gently and steadily until the contents 

 have been removed. Then rinse the egg thoroughly with water and 

 lay it hole downward on corn-meal to drain. 



In eggs containing embryos it is necessary to make a hole large 

 enough to permit of the use of the embryo-hook, scissors, or forceps, 

 as the case may be. 



Each egg should be marked with the number of the species in the 

 Check List of the American Ornithologists' Union, the number of the 

 set in your collection, and the number of eggs in the set. Thus, if I 

 were going to label my second set of four eggs of the Bluebird, I should 

 write with a lead pencil on each egg, near the hole, 766|. 



There are many ways of displaying collections of eggs. Some col- 

 lectors place their eggs in little boxes or partitions filled with sawdust 

 or cotton ; Captain Bendire uses small pasteboard trays lined, bottom 

 and sides, with cotton wadding, and divided into partitions for each 

 egg by strips of cotton wadding set on edge. It is, however, very 

 largely a matter of taste, and collectors generally have their own ideas 

 on these matters. 



